I’ve been thinking about adding them to my next victim for awhile. A couple years ago I made over a clearanced caddy for the kiddo’s markers and crayons in my office:

I wanted to add wheels to this too, but it was really deep underneath (the bottom wasn’t flush), so I didn’t do it back then because I’d have to add some wood to make them work. (I thought the wheels would have looked awkward because they would be so deep underneath there.)

Well, my wheel obsession continues and I decided to make the little update to this finally. The bonus was that I found four wheels in the garage clean out, so it didn’t cost me anything!

I emptied it out (this also gave me a good reason to go through the markers that seem to multiply) and measured the length I needed for the scrap wood:

See how deep that is? That’s why I wanted to make it more flush on the bottom. And yes, there’s a cat in there. There’s always a cat.

See the paws?

He likes to “help.”

So anyway, I cut down the wood and just used wood glue to secure it to the bottom:

I could have used a nail gun but I didn’t feel like dragging it out and I didn’t want to risk the nails to come up through the bottom of the caddy. I couldn't tell how thick that bottom shelf was.

Not helping:

And yes, there were a lot of markers in there.

Here’s the little castors I used:

They have more of an antique brass finish. Love it.

You’ll want to make sure the spacing is fairly equal when you install – I just eyeballed them:

And that’s it! You just want to make sure you have some kind of wood for them to screw in to. If there’s not you can always add some scrap like I did to make it more secure:

If you don’t have to mess with adding wood or anything it should only take you ten minutes or so to install the wheels. Or 30 if you have a cat helping.

There are also locking castors so you can secure something you don’t want floating around the place. :)

Now we can easily roll the caddy around my office:

Or take it all the way to the kitchen table for projects. This thing is heavy so being able to wheel it around is helpful.

Cute eh? I think it’s a fun little detail. I’m always looking for ways to make store-bought pieces more unique and this does it. Do you ever do this in your home? It’s such an easy and cheap project!

34 comments:

I love all the wheels! I was just dreaming about using some old doors and hinging them together and putting wheels on them to make a giant screen separating my third car garage (aka the workshop) from the two where the cars will be. The house isn't built yet, but soon...I can turn that dream into a reality. I love how you've used wheels in your home. Would love for you to follow along as we build our home. www.dreamingofdiy.com

They don't scratch ours at all! Our floors are finished on site and hold up pretty well to stuff, I'm not sure about other kinds though. ;) And I just realized that bottom pic has scratches on the floor but those are from years ago -- right after we had them installed of course. You can only see them when the sun hits them just right. ;)

When my son was in his cars phase I added castors to a plain three drawer chest and painted it a bright glossy red to make it look like a mechanics rolling tool chest. It turned out really cute and I still love that chest because I can roll it out of the way to clean underneath it.

That's a great idea! I have a sofa at my dining table that's just a little too short so I want to add some wheels to it if I can find some small enough to go with the legs. You just reaffirmed that I should def try to do it! I love the little storage caddy for the markers and things; now I want to find something like that for my kids' art supplies!

This is a good idea I have never thought about. My house is very small and I love it, but I do have to keep things organized. Right now I have two Rubbermaid type drawer sets in my closet for my "portable office." It would be so nice to just roll them out as opposed to dragging them every time I need to use them.

I'm totally on this bandwagon. I've used those lovely little antique brass casters to make 2 rolling crates for my kids' playroom! I had to add scrap wood, too, since I had this bases to deal with. The first crate is one of the ones from Michael's and the other is a big old melon crate that a neighbor used to use when he did deliveries for a grocery store about 50 years ago! How cool is that?!

I love your living room! It's gorgeous! and, wow, that rug. love it. OK, I have two questions. Where did you get the framed light green bulletin board? (You prob made it?) And what about the one, two, three thing? Did you make that as well?

We have an orange kitty also, they are so sweet and smart. Ours doesn't like to be held or hugged as he was a barn cat most of first year of his life, then he decided to come adopt us. I put casters on anything I can to make it easier to move things when I clean. I have one of old fashioned picnic baskets I use to store some of my craft supplies when I'm working in kitchen on the island. Hubs added some wood on bottom to put castors on it. Makes it so much easier to move around house where I need it. Also put castors on an ottoman. I'd like to put castors on our couch so we can move it easier when I get the wild urge. Love your living room, so snazzy. I love that caddy you use for art supplies, going to pin this so hubs can make one for me. Love that it won't take up much room being taller. And it will have castors on bottom. Sure nice to have a handy hubs. He'll make it if we don't get snow that is. Just never know here on the western slope, west of Grand Junction, CO. Happy Thanksgiving